“Once again it was very difficult to choose between a large number of high quality contributions from pupils across the length of the constituency.

“I was pleased to be joined again by Max Hailey from Mix 96 as well as Steve Burnhope from Aylesbury Vineyard Church who helped decide on the final three winners:

Safa in Year 2, and Aaraya in Year 5 win runners up prizes of £25 book tokens, but in the end we decided the best entry for the true meaning of Christmas came from Aatiqa in Year 4, who will win a book token worth £50.”

David thought that you might be interested in the consultations on East West Rail in the coming weeks that are listed below:

"The East West Rail phase 2 project is proposing to improve the railway between Oxford and Bedford, and Milton Keynes and Aylesbury by upgrading disused and underused rail track to provide a new rail link between these important conurbations, and provide additional routes for passengers. On completion, this new rail link will connect the Great Western, Chiltern, West Coast and Midland Main Lines north of London and become a vital strategic rail link in Britain’s rail network.

In July and August 2017 Network Rail consulted on plans to upgrade and reconstruct existing and mothballed sections of line linking Bedford-Bicester and Milton Keynes-Aylesbury as part of the East West Rail Western Section Phase 2 project. We will require statutory powers under a Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO) granted by the Secretary of State for Transport in order to construct, maintain and operate the project.

With your help, we’re working hard to speed up the journey from east to west, with reliable , more frequent trains connecting East Anglia and Central Southern and Western England.

Since our last round of consultation we have made some changes to the scope and delivery of the scheme in some areas, and will be holding a third round of public consultation to share these updates. The third round of consultation will take place from 12 January – 9 February 2018.

We will be holding a number of public events in areas where the project has changed the greatest to give local communities and local residents a chance to view our plans and talk to members of the project team about these changes. The project team will be available at all events to answer any queries.

David thought you might like to see the most recent home building numbers in the constituency.

David said:

"The speed of home building in Aylesbury continues to far exceed the the national average and that shows no signs of slowing down.

"I would again recommend that if you have not taken the opportunity to do so, that you respond to the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan proposed submission, which closes TOMORROW AT 5.15 and which you can find here:

David was very pleased to have the opportunity to talk to Bucks Rural Affairs Group about potential impacts of Brexit on the farming and agricultural industries.

David said:

"This was an excellent opportunity to discuss the opportunities and challenges that those in rural industries will face during our evolving relationship with the European Union.

"It is always useful to hear the perspective of people for whom rural industries are their livelihood. This is particularly true in areas like Aylesbury with a large rural population which is also facing pressure for additional housing and infrastructure.

"I was very pleased to have this opportunity and will continue to represent the views of my rural constituents to other Ministers throughout the negotiation process."

David recently visited Aylesbury College, part of the Bucks College Group, to participate in a question and answer session with Level 3 Public Service students to talk about his role as a Minister and a constituency MP.

"I spent part of a recent constituency Friday learning more about rubbish!

"Everyone in Aylesbury knows that their bins are emptied by AVDC. But what happens next? It used to go to landfill, but in the last two years that's all changed, with the opening of the Greatmoor Energy from Waste (EfW) plant at Woodham.

"Visiting Greatmoor was an eye-opener. From the outside, it’s clearly a large industrial plant. When you walk round, you quickly see that the operator, FCC Environment (which has the contract from Bucks County Council), is using modern technology. The staff I met were sitting at computer screens, not shovelling ash, and I learned that the company looks for employees with experience of boilers and thermal engineering. A fair number of their recruits come from the Royal Navy.

"Our waste travels to Greatmoor by lorry and is tipped from ground level into a 23 metre deep bunker. Staff inside an air-conditioned control room move it by crane to a grate where it burns for two hours.

"The residue, once cooled, is sorted using a giant magnet to recover metals for recycling. Ash is used for construction materials. But the real prize is the generation of electricity that’s sold to the National Grid: 22 megawatts, enough to power 36,000 homes.

"Laws on pollution control are strict and the plant uses up-to-date filtering technology. Emissions from the chimney stack are constantly monitored (those computer screens again) and what comes out is 99.9% water vapour.

"We still as a society produce a lot of non-recyclable waste. Converting that waste (300,000 tonnes a year at Greatmoor) into clean energy seems to me a sensible way to dispose of it - certainly better than landfill.

"Scandinavian countries make a lot of use of EfW plants. They locate them close to towns, with EfW not only generating electricity but heat for homes and offices. Perhaps an idea for any future new settlement in Bucks?"

The Department for Transport recently announced that as part of the East-West Rail project, and the Oxford to Cambridge Express way will be accelerated to be ready to open by 2030, which will have a number of economic benefits for the Aylesbury constituency. You can read the full letter below.

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